Mary Panttaja

Wednesday was a long day. Awake before dawn I laid on the futon and watch the moon set; I headed out into the dawn to watch the sun rise. Then I worked all day, though we got out into the sunshine for lunch. It was so beautiful after work that I could not stay in, so after a 40 minute weight session at the gym, I headed out into the arriving crowds. It was the last game of the season for the Giants and people were in a happy flurry everywhere. The moon rose over the bay, golden and full. Full circle in just a few hours. I walked over the to field to catch the ambiance of the game—quite a lot of fun. On the way back, paddling out of the dimness came a flotilla of kayaks into McCovey Cove.

Here are some of my snaps.

Awake early this morning and moved into the living room on the new futon—I’ve got it flat for a more “day bed” kind of feel. (Ordered some more matching pillows for it. And this way it doesn’t block the view.) So I’m in my favorite horizontal position but I can’t decide whether to face the setting moon or the rising sun. Quite a dilemma.

I just wanted to let everyone know that I am alive and well. Just not finding the where-withall to blog. I have not given  up on it, but only time will tell if I find a space in the week for it. Between full time work (newish for me), and the daily exercise, and keeping house, the day is pretty full.  As you all know, since you have all been working. I am trying to do a little thinking about Illumine and doing some editing in tiny corners of time. I am thinking that the work on Illumine is most important—and I’m playing with a few ideas about using SF in the next story.

(I flipped around to watch the moon set; it is down amongst the buildings, and golden.)

Work is proceding apace. By Monday we will have doubled our numbers, a little more actually. We’ll get to nine next week. Our first engineer arrived this week and I’m so glad to start to have someone to hand some of the design work to. Things should really start popping now.

It’s about time to head out—I’m going to walk today. We walked last week on a really windy day and discovered that our walking muscles had gotten a little lax, so the plan is to walk at least one day. And I play with a little jogging in my new running shoes. (I’ve got to keep going as cutting back from 10 hours a week to 6 hours a week has reversed the already very slow weight loss process. I guess I’ve found the line of demarcation.)

Moon is set. Out to see the sunrise.

I am finally getting a little bit settled into our new life—though I haven’t spent any time in Healdsburg in three weeks, so the “going back and forth” part isn’t practiced. I’m feeling a little bit out of control in Healdsburg, though I’m not there and the only thing that is likely out of control is the garden produce.

On our daily rides (though I’m foregoing one this morning for a bit of a sit) I am starting to recognize people—and some of them are recognizing me. An interesting community of sorts, those of us out on the bay just after dawn. A motley crew, I must say, all sizes and shapes and speeds.

Riding the Embarcadero and the Marina reminds a little bit of the challenges of driving in Kathmandu. But only a little—still much easier here. Walkers and runners of all speeds, cyclists going fast, bicyclers going randomly slowly (that’s me), people with dogs, people with two dogs (one on each side, of course), homeless people just waking up, commuters dashing off the ferry from Larkspur. And on Tuesday, the vendors for the farmer’s market traipse their bins across the path, suddenly turning and making a dash in front of you. And I haven’t mentioned the posts, poles, concrete benches, trees, street cleaners, buses, trolley cars (sometimes you are between a bus and a trolley car), trolley tracks, stop signs, and lights.

So riding is more a mental challenge here. You can’t go quite so fast, and you have to dodge all the time. A bit different than the Alexander Valley where we only have to dodge Casino traffic and trucks. (And the occasionally loopy wine taster.) I do miss the hills, a little up and down is good for the heart.

My good friends Sandeep and Sunita Giri (and young ones Ashwin and Priya) just returned from a trip to their families in Nepal. It seems it was a wonderful trip, and we are sorry to have missed it.

Sandeep reports that his good friend Mahabir Pun (they both attended university in Nebraska) has received a major award for this work bringing education, computers, and internet connectivity to remote villages outside of Beni and Pokhara. Mahabir has managed to inspire a whole region and has installed a complete wireless network where every part and computer has to be carried into the mountains. (Nangi Village in Myagdi, Nepal is a day’s walk from Beni Bazaar.) Here is a link to some great trekking photos of Sandeep’s travels to Nangi Village.

If you want information on how you can contribute to Mahabir’s work, check out his website on Nepal Wireless.

Also, Sandeep’s parents are now running a bed and breakfast just north of Kathmandu. I have stayed there and can attest to how wonderful they are and what a thrill it is to stay in a Nepalese home that also has all the comforts we are shamelessly used to. If you want to go and have any questions, feel free to contact me. I love to encourage people to head to Nepal, especially since things are much calmer there these days.

…where updraft implies a high preponderance of likelihood that something is really happening—that you are on the right track.

This morning, Saturday September 1, we are ensconced in our new apartment 95% moved in and totally functional. We chose the apartment Monday, signed and took possession Tuesday, hired movers Wednesday, and Friday did the whole shebang by 2PM when the movers left. Okay, I had some more unpacking and organizing yet, and it took a bit to do the whole first grocery run thing, but we ate dinner in our organized and furnished apartment. It surely helps that we only brought what we needed (except for three extra boxes of kitchen stuff), and that we had a house full of goods already packed and ready to ship. But here we are.

In addition, our partner Tom takes possession of his apartment today, partly furnished because the owners, at the last minute, didn’t want what was there. And we found and signed a letter of intent on an office that totally meets our specifications in size, style, location, etc. And that was quite a story: Wednesday, we asked to be shown the “Jack Falstaff” building at the corner of 2nd and Brannan, but when we got there the broker called and said that he made a mistake and he was about to show us (to his surprise) a place down the street. But it turned out to be perfect, perfect and the letter of intent was signed yesterday. It is three blocks from our apartment and two blocks from Tom’s apartment. (Our fourth partner, Matt, lives in Oakland and will be commuting.)

Last odd fact, we have a straight visual shot through a maze of buildings to the upper floors of our office building from our balcony–didn’t know that when we took it, because we hadn’t found the office yet—and that will help us with some network challenges.

That’s a bit of what you get in an updraft—a high preponderance of things going your way.